


Nightmare

by SilentEvilx



Category: The Last of Us
Genre: Apocalypse, Comfort, Drabble, Dreams, Dreams and Nightmares, Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Father Figures, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Hugs, Memories, Nightmares
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-26
Updated: 2015-02-26
Packaged: 2018-03-15 09:46:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 419
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3442568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilentEvilx/pseuds/SilentEvilx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Joel tries to comfort Ellie after she has a terrible nightmare. </p><p>** SPOILERS for the Winter Chapter of the game **</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nightmare

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was originally posted on my tumblr on February 18th, 2015 (http://fics-and-shit.tumblr.com/post/111413392553/nightmare). 
> 
> I will post this AO3 link on the original tumblr post :)

  


Joel and Ellie had found an abandoned house at the end of a quiet road to camp in for the night. After searching the house and determining it was safe, they pulled two mattresses, a couple pillows, and a few blankets from the bedrooms upstairs and dragged them into the basement to sleep; the basement was a lot safer than the main floor. They barricaded the basement door and eventually fell asleep.

The sound of Ellie’s screams woke Joel. He shot up and reached for his knife, but stopped when he realized Ellie was just dreaming.  


“Ellie,” Joel said while grabbing her shoulders, trying to wake her, “Ellie, wake up!”

“ _Get the fuck off of me!_ ” Ellie screamed, pushing Joel away.  


“It’s me, _it’s_ _me_!” Joel said, now holding her face with his hands. Ellie snapped out of her dream and stared at Joel with wide eyes. Sweat covered her body and tears were streaming down her face.

Suddenly, Ellie grabbed Joel and held onto him tight. He hesitated for a moment, not sure how to react. He then stroked her head, trying to comfort her. She couldn’t stop shaking.

“It was just a dream,” he said softly.

Ellie was embarrassed. She got up and walked to the other side of the room with her arms held tightly across her chest.

“I-I’m sorry,” she began, “I didn’t mean to wake you. Just…fuck.”

“Was it…”

“David? Yeah…” she answered reluctantly.

“You _know_ that wasn’t your fault, Ellie,” Joel told her, trying to reassure her.

Ellie looked away. She wanted so badly to believe him, but she didn’t. She _couldn’t_. Silence filled the room as Ellie tried to wipe the tears and sweat from her face, still embarrassed.

“Whenever, uh…” Joel began, but hesitated. His face looked pained; he never liked talking about this, “Whenever Sarah couldn’t sleep, she would imagine we were on one of our hikes”.  


Joel swallowed, but continued, “She would think of the birds chirping, the stream flowing…it would put her right to sleep.”  
  
Joel smiled, trying to hold back tears. He cleared his throat; “try to think of a place that makes you happy.”

Ellie wiped her remaining tears and thanked Joel. She knew how hard bringing this up was for him; he never talked about Sarah. Whenever she’d try to ask about her, he’d get angry.

Ellie curled back into bed and pulled the blanket up to her chin. She turned away from Joel; she didn’t want him to see her cry anymore.


End file.
